Andy Murray vied for his love-struck mother's affections today as the British
Number 1 stormed into the Wimbledon semi finals for the third year in a row.

Judy Murray ignored a barrage of calls to “wolf whistle” at heart-throb Feliciano Lopez, who was convincingly beaten by her fourth seed son in straight sets.

The Scot, who won in just over two hours, will now make his seventh Grand Slam semi-final appearance against Rafael Nadal, the world No 1 whom he lost to in last year’s Wimbledon semi-final.

Murray’s chance at winning his first Wimbledon – and becoming the first British man to win at SW19 since Fred Perry in 1936 – was strengthened yesterday after third seed Roger Federer’s shock loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a five set thriller.

For several days leading up to yesterday’s quarter-final Mrs Murray, 50, was the subject of much focus on the internet after she openly flirted online with the 29-year-old Spaniard, the world no 44.

On Twitter, the microblogging site, the divorced mother-of-two had referred to the player as "Deliciano" and has also described him as a "Roman God”.

She even joked she was going to have wolf whistling lessons after learning that odds were being offered at 20:1 that she would whistle at him during the match.

But during the match she was only focused on her son, occasionally yelling “come on” from the players’ box, as she watched the 24 year-old win his eighth match in a row.

She did, however, stifle a smile when a member of the crowd yelled “come on Feliciano do it for Judy” in the first set.

Such is the interest in the men’s final, that tickets are already trading at up to £12,500 each, which is £6,500 more than last year’s prices.

Edward Parkinson, director of viagogo UK, Europe's largest ticket exchange said of the men's final: “If we continue to see a daily 20 per cent rise, tickets could surpass £40,000 by Sunday.”

Murray’s match drew a galaxy of sports stars and celebrities including Greg Norman, the Australian golf star and his third wife Kirsten, Jack Nicklaus, the American golfer and Anna Wintour, the editor of American Vogue magazine.

Also in the box were George Osborne, the Chancellor, who was accompanied by his father Sir Peter and Sir Michael Peat, the Prince of Wales’ former private secretary.

Pippa Middleton, the 27 year-old younger sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, also watched in the capacity crowd with her boyfriend Alex Loudon, 30 and her parents Carole and Michael.

Lewis Hamilton, the former Formula 1 champion, also watched from the row behind from the players’ box while Chelsy Davy, Prince Harry’s former girlfriend was also seen among the 15,000 people on Centre Court.

Last night Murray, who has expressed great distain for his mother's public indiscretions, said of his mother’s Twitter comments: "I haven't spoken to her about it, but I was embarrassed by it. If you fancy not putting it in the papers tomorrow, I'd appreciate that."

In the lead up to the match Mrs Murray had tweeted: "Oooooooooh Deliciano........looking good out there, as always."

Then on Tuesday she added: “He is kind of Roman God-like. We were in Greece a few weeks ago and they had the God statues there and I’m sure he was there.”

But she did not bank on the publicity it would generate, which resulted in Murray being asked about her gushing infatuation during his post-match press conference.

Mrs Murray had earlier admitted she felt rather sheepish about her admiring tweets.

She said: "It has gone a bit far, but it's not difficult at all to know who to support – it's Andy all the way.

"But I am just one of a lot of Feliciano female fans, I am in the majority, but of course family loyalty comes into it hugely."